Workfirst Trims 9,000 From Welfare Rolls
Washington’s welfare rolls are shrinking so fast that goals for 1999 have nearly been met.
More than 9,000 families - enough to fill the city of Wenatchee - have left the dole since the get-to-work program became law last April.
Now comes the tough part.
The most able-bodied and skilled have either claimed jobs or are looking, leaving behind tens of thousands of welfare recipients with dimmer prospects. The vast majority of that group have been supported by cash aid for years.
Elevating that group to self-sufficiency is welfare reform’s biggest challenge.
Mirroring a national trend, the drop in caseloads has been spurred by stricter work requirements, time limits and a healthy economy.
Under the old rules, welfare checks were guaranteed, education was emphasized and penalties for ignoring rules were not enforced.
The new philosophy attacks welfare dependence like a disease passed from generation to generation. WorkFirst offers financial incentives for recipients to work even part time, as well as tax credits and subsidized child care.
“With the way the program is designed, people are better off working than not working,” said Mike Masten, the program’s chief administrator.
A five-year time limit began ticking in August, and authority to cut off recipients who refuse to work kicked in on Nov. 1.
Similar sanctions have proved crucial in states experiencing the biggest declines in welfare rolls, said Robert Rector, a welfare analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy research group based in Washington, D.C.
“The dirty little secret in welfare is that the majority don’t need to be on in the first place,” he said.
Reforms first must “peel away” those who can work, Rector said.
“In order to shrink the system and still make it available to the needy, you can’t make handouts. You have to really say, ‘We will provide assistance, but we will demand certain things of you. If you don’t, you won’t get welfare.”’
The state budget for welfare grants shrinks from $532 million next year to $501 million in 1999.
By then, Gov. Gary Locke hopes to have reduced welfare rolls by 10 percent - to 85,000 families.
Critics warn that a true test of the program may not come until a slump in Washington’s economy.
Advocates for the poor question whether WorkFirst will reduce poverty, or just government spending.
“I don’t think (state officials) have any idea where the families go,” said Linda Stone, director of Spokane’s Children’s Alliance. “They only know they’re not on the caseloads.”
, DataTimes